As the match begins, Rhino immediately walks into the shadow of the nearest wall. Underneath his helmet, his ears are swiveling in all directions. He doesn't hear anything suspicious, so he makes a quick motion to Gel so she focuses on him. With a hoof, he points to himself, then to the wall, then upward.

She tilts her head, confused. ...What does he mean? Whatever it is, I'd better agree. She nods before it dawns on her. Oh, his Res spell! Duh! She facehoofs silently before cautiously entering the maze, every sense on the alert for any sign of their targets. Come on out, little pegasi. I've got some paint here for you.

A familiar glow appears on the undersides of Rhino's hooves as he scales the labyrinth wall. As he nears the top, he stops and peeks his head over, trying to spot anything. Seeing nothing, he cranes his neck to check on his partner. Seeing her enter the maze proper, he quickly makes his way over to her, running just below the tops of the walls at an angle perpendicular to them.

Gel continues to walk along, glancing around each bend carefully, making sure she was safe before she moved on. Eventually, she reaches an unusually straight stretch of hall. She stops at the very edge of her hiding spot, peering out at the path. ...I can't just go out there...I'd be a sitting duck for anyone who came by, or snuck into one of the side corridors...maybe a small trick to lure them out... She concentrates, a single wisp of blue fire forming in front of her. She sends it on ahead, drifting slowly down the hall. Will-o-wisp. Stare too long and you'll find yourself drawn by it's flame...

Rhino watches from above, intrigued by the flame. He flares up his horn and a neat glowing green script appears on the wall next to Gel. 'Impressive trick. I'll guard you from above if you guard me from below. Deal?'

She looks up at him and gives a quick salute, showing that she understood. I wonder what runes allow him to do that. Or is that just his magic? She glances around the corners, eyes narrowed slightly. ...they should be here by now...not that I'm complaining about getting a small breather, of course...

A sudden flutter of feathers causes the stallion's head to snap towards the sound, revealing a charging Rainbow Dash with eyes and weapon trained on him. As her hoof pulls down on the trigger, his horn lights up and he disappears, leaving the paint pellets to zoom through the space he had been in. He reappears attached upside down to the plexiglass ceiling and takes aim at his assailant. As his first shot rings out, the pegasus jukes to the right and glides down into one of the mazes corridors, quickly rounding a corner and becoming lost to sight.

Gel frowns slightly at this, dispersing the blue wisp. That's obviously not going to work. Need a back-up... She carefully steps out of the alcove to see pellets coming right at her. She rolls her eyes, creating a flame-shield in their path, destroying them on contact. It's not cheating if it's part of your talent, right?

Meanwhile, the ceiling-clinging stallion spots Thunderlane as he backs up after taking his shots at the mare. As the unicorn lines up the shot, pellets start whizzing by his head from a returning rainbow blur. Rhino releases his spell and fires a trio of shots at the other stallion as he falls, only to growl as they land in the dirt around him. His horn lights up and he teleports right side up on one of the walls, only to light it up again and appear next to Gel.

She jumps, glancing at him before turning towards the gray pegasus. "...that still startles me..." She trains her guns on the stallion, her helmet hiding her smirk. One down, one to go. She fires three shots in rapid succession, expecting that he'll be hit by at least one of them.

One shot of the burst misses, one grazes him, and the other zooms through the feathers of Thunderlane's wings. Since none of them actually burst on him, he isn't out. He levels his gun at the unicorn team and fires two quick shots down the long corridor. Seeing them coming from so far away, Rhino lights up his horn and wraps his aura around the pellets to simply stop them in mid air. The pegasus stops at this move and puts his hooves in a 'T' shape. "Time out!"

The others look at him quizzically before all convening to his location.

Rainbow lands on the ground next to her friend, lifting up her helmet. "What's up, Lane?"

Gel removes her own helmet, purely confused by the current situation. ...Why did he call time out? Was it something we did?

The pegasus stallion removes his helmet as well, leaving Rhino as the only helmeted pony. The grey pony points to the other stallion. "I would like to make a new rule: no directly influencing pellets. I'm fine with everything else because with our wings it balances out, but we have no match for you just catching them with magic."

Rhino looks back at the pellets on the floor before levitating them back to the other stallion. "Sorry, reflex."

The white mare places a hoof on his shoulder, smiling softly. "Don't worry about it, Rhino. You'll do fine." I'll have your back, though, just in case.

The chromatic pegasus nods, flexing her wings a bit from restlessness. "Yeah, glad we got that settled. Now can we get back to the game, Lane?"

He nods, before speaking very quickly. "Ten second immunity starting now!"

With that, Rainbow swiftly flies off, leaving the three of them there.

Gel panics, ducking behind a wall, keeping an eye on Thunderlane and Rhino. Let's see how this turns out. Not to mention who will be left standing...

The two stallions stand in the exact spot where they had been during the time out. Thunderlane tilts his head at the unicorn. "You realize you only have six seconds left right?"

Rhino responds simply. "Three."

The pegasus raises his gun. "Two."

The unicorn's horn lights up under his helmet. "One."

As Thunderlane starts to put pressure on his trigger, a large arcane circle suddenly appears on the ground underneath him. His hooves all slide out from under him in different directions, leaving him splayed out on the floor. Rhino simply angles his own gun downward and shoots a quick triple burst into the pegasus' back, every one of them splatting all over his armor.

"You're out."

Gel grins, throwing her hooves up in the air. "That was amazing, Rhino!" She giggles, covering where her mouth would be with a hoof. "We're closer to winning. Not so bad for our first time playing this together, huh?" She steps forward, playfully elbowing him in the ribs.

He nods, knowing smiles wouldn't do anything since they can't be seen through helmets. He reaches a hoof down towards the fallen pegasus. "Hey, no hard feelings?"

Thunderlane takes the offered hoof. "It's fine, dude. You got me fair and square." He's pulled up. "Nice trick by the way."

"Thanks, guess you get to go above and watch now." The unicorns nods towards the exit and the glass ceiling.

"Yep, looking forward to seeing how you do against Dash. Good luck!" The grey pegasus flies up and above the maze and is soon out the door.

Gel watches him leave, moving a bit closer to Rhino. "I'm glad he's not a sore loser."

Behind them, a certain mare trains her sights on the white unicorn. "Gotcha." She fires at her, certain that she can't dodge the pellets.

As he hears the pellets being fired, Rhino reflexively tackles Gel out of the way. The two tumble across the floor a short distance before stopping. As he gets up, Rhino notices a bright blue streak on the ground leading to him. Looking down, he sees it's from a couple of fresh paint splotches along his side.

Rainbow laughs from her spot in the air, pointing a hoof at the stallion. "You're out!"

The white unicorn stares at the paint on Rhino's side, silent. ...he got hit...by that braggart? She trembles, her head lowered. ...thank you, Rhino...I won't let your sacrifice be in vain! She glares up at the mare, a fire visible in her eyes through her helmet's tinted visor. "Now I'm fired up!"

As Rhino leaves the arena to spectate from on top of the ceiling, the pegasus simply smirks as she levels her weapon. "Hey, no need to be mad, you'll be joining him soon enough." She fires.

"Wrong!" She yells, her body being engulfed in blue fire from her rage. The pellets evaporate as soon as they even get close to the flames. She laughs, training her guns on the pegasus. "You're going down." She fires, but her flames cause her own shots to evaporate. She blinks, staring at her paintball guns in silence. ...I guess my flames are a double-edged sword, here...

Rainbow, who had ducked down at the burst of flames, peeks her head back up and laughs. "Sorry pyro pony, you aren't going to win that easy!" She dives into the long corridor Gel is in and quickly gains speed as she flies just above the ground. Just as she's about to ram the other mare, she pulls up and soars just over her head, creating a massive wave of wind that buffets the unicorn.

Gel slams her forehooves into the ground, keeping herself from flying backwards from the gust. Unfortunately for her, though, the wind extinguished her flames. She grits her teeth, turning and firing at Rainbow before she got too far away. I will not lose!

The prismatic pegasus gracefully arcs upward, the shots zooming just behind her. As she reaches the apex of her loop, she flips right side up and performs a quick strafing run at Gel before diving back into one of the neighboring corridors.

Gel shoots each of the pellets, knocking them away from her. She blinks at this, surprised. ...well, that was lucky. I was trying to hit her.

She shrugs, ducking down one of the paths as well, running along it as fast as possible. She enters one of the larger rooms and skids to a halt, looking around. ...this looks like a smaller version of the large tree fort outside. I could use this to my advantage, but I have to be careful not to set it on fire... She grins, rushing up the stairway to the tree. Using another will-o-wisp, she lights up the darkened path ahead of her, keeping it a decent distance ahead of her.

Her opponent spots the light moving in the tree from where she was skulking in the maze. With a quick flap of her wings, she quietly glides over the maze and to the top of the tree. The only sound she makes is the slight rustle of leaves as she burrows into them to wait.

The white mare hears the rustling and glances around, eyes narrowed. ...come on...all I need is a glimpse of that rainbow stripe on your side, and you're done... She climbs up the tree, her training allowing her to move noiselessly. From what I know about that pegasus, she's probably near the top. That's where the sound is coming from, anyways...

Neither seeing nor hearing the other mare, Rainbow starts to get restless. "Come on... get up here already..." Finally, the urge to move gets the best of her and she slowly creeps out of the foliage, weapon first and trained in front of her. She makes a few careful sweeps but growls when she still sees nothing.

Gel notices this, keeping low and out of sight. In a flash of inspiration, she sends her will-o-wisp down to the ground underneath the tree. ...come on, little pony...take the bait...

Rainbow notices the light down on the ground and grins. She slowly extends her wings like a bird of prey about to swoop, an apt metaphor given the situation. With a 'woosh' she goes into a dive heading for the light with a triumphant smile on her face.

The disguised changeling smirks, shaking her head. Checkmate. She silently moves along the treehouse path to a section where she can clearly see her blue flame. She trains her sights on the area through a small window. She's almost in the perfect position. Just a little more...

As Rainbow closes in, she looks around expecting to see the other mare following the light. When she doesn't, she stops and hovers in place looking around for her opponent by slowly rotating around. "Where are you..."

Gel sees this and fires, nodding to herself. Game over, Dash.

Hearing the shot too late, the pegasus only has time for her pupils to shrink before a series of splats hit her back. She groans as she lands dejectedly. As she touches down, she calls out. "Alright... you got me..."

"Yes!" The unicorn rushes down to where the chromatic mare landed, not even bothering to try and hide her hooffalls. "That was fun!" She holds out a hoof, lifting up her helmet and smiling kindly. "Good game, Miss Dash."

Rainbow grumbles a moment before holding out her hoof and smiling. "Yeah... it was a good game. Probably the best I've had in a while. I'd forgotten what losing felt like..."

Gel nods, putting her paintball guns on her back. "It's a good thing to lose every once in a while. From what I understand, it's how you learn, right?" She shrugs a bit, looking up at the see-through ceiling. It also teaches humility, which this mare needs to learn. Not that I'd tell her that, of course.

Above them, Rhino and Thunderlane are watching. The unicorn rears to celebrate his teammate's victory while Thunderlane simply hovers and smiles. They motion for the two to meet them at the entrance, Rhino pawing at his helmet as they walk off.

Gel and Rainbow quickly exit the labyrinth thanks to their directions. The chromatic pegasus takes off her helmet, grinning widely at Rhino. "Your marefriend sure is skilled. But only a bit more than me." She winks at him, pointedly ignoring the blush on the white unicorn's face.

Gel squirms a bit, pawing at the ground with a hoof. Calm down. She's obviously saying that to get a reaction out of him.

The stallion seems tense as he answers. "This is the first time I've seen this competitive side of her... it's very interesting." His magic surrounds his helmet but he doesn't take it off. It disperses and a smaller glow can be seen on the back of his helmet, but still nothing comes of it.

Rainbow shrugs, shaking her head. "Eh, this game can do that to ponies."

The white pony moves closer to Rhino, curious. "...Rhino? What's with that glow?" She moves behind him, staring at the back of his helmet. Is this one of his rune spells?

Thunderlane offers his observations. "He's been doing that the whole time we've been out here. That and hitting himself in the helmet."

Rhino huffs. "I am not hitting myself. Just... doing something..." He fiddles with the base of the helmet with one hoof while the small glowing area on his helmet moves around, almost like it's searching for something.

The mares stare at him blankly for a few moments before the chromatic pony speaks up, bemused. "It's stuck, isn't it?"

His head turns to the side as one hoof scuffs the ground. "Maybe..."

Gel steps forward, grabbing the helmet with her magic. "Don't worry, Rhino. I'll get it off for you." She tugs carefully on it, making sure she wouldn't hurt him.

The helmet only moves an inch before stopping. Rhino mutters to the group. "A salespony helped me get it in. I think there's a latch or a snap or something that I'm missing but I cannot for the life of me find it. I really really need to get this off."

The white mare looks down, finally noticing a series of latches near the bottom of the back of his helmet. How did we miss that? She reaches up with a hoof and turns each one, her magic ready to take it off as soon as she was able to. Just one more, and...there! She pulls off the helmet, but, not expecting it to come off as easily as it did, she lost her grip on it momentarily, hitting his horn with it on accident. "...um...s-sorry..."

Rainbow laughs, shaking her head. "For such a paintball wiz, you sure are clumsy!" When the unicorn lowers her head, she frowns softly, moving forward to put a hoof on her shoulder. "It was a joke. I didn't think you'd take it seriously."

Rhino's appearance reveals exactly why he wanted the helmet off so badly. His fur and mane are absolutely soaked with sweat and condensation lines the inside of the helmet. One could almost see the steam coming off him as he sits on the ground rubbing the area around the base of his horn ruefully. "She seems to take some things to heart. Haven't quite figured out how to avoid it yet..."

Gel sighs quietly, leaning against his side. "...I'm sorry, Rhino...I just...I have trouble understanding when ponies are joking, sometimes..." I really need to find a book on that, or something. This is getting out of hoof...

The chromatic mare slowly nods, backing away a bit. "Right...let's go, Lane. I think these two need some time alone."

After the two leave, Rhino looks down at the mare. "Careful about leaning on me. Crude as it may sound, I am covered in sweat and I'm not sure if the suit has absorbed any or not. I wouldn't want you to unintentionally get it on yourself."

She looks up at him, smiling softly. "...I don't mind...besides, you look cute when you're sweaty..." She giggles, playfully sticking her tongue out. "...not that I'm into that, or anything..." ...why did I add that last sentence? It's pretty much a given, right? She turns her head away, mentally sighing. ...I can only hope he doesn't think that I'm some kind of pervert...

He notices her turning away and nudges her with his nose. "Hey, no being sad. Look, paintball! It's what you wanted and we did it so you have no excuse to be sad. Should you disregard that and become sad anyway, I cannot be held responsible for what I do."

Gel turns back to him, confused. "...what do you mean, Rhino?" What would he do? I'm honestly a little curious...

He sticks his own tongue out at her as he chuckles. "Now why would I tell you? Half of it is a surprise and the other half is spontaneous."

She pouts, her cheeks puffed out in indignation. Rude. She walks away from him, picking up her saddlebags and putting her paintball guns inside, along with her helmet. "...well, that was a good use of half a day..." She looks over her shoulder at him, somewhat hopeful. "Would you like to do anything else today, or are you tuckered out?"

He mulls the question around in his head as they walk. "Hmm... would you be opposed to some time at one of the less populated lakes? I know of one nopony else really goes to and I really feel like throwing myself in the water to cool off."

She tenses up momentarily but nods, sheepishly smiling. "...s-sure..." She bites her lip, glancing off to the side. If it makes him happy, just do it.